Ever since man learned to throw a spear to capture food, his hunger for competition has captured civilization. The sport of archery dates back as far as 50,000 years B.C and Bakersfield College offers a class that not only satisfies physical education requirements, it allows students to follow in the shoes of Genghis Khan, William Tell and yes, even Robin Hood. While no one will shoot an apple off your head, there are tournaments within the class. You will compete both as group and individual. Points are given to how close the arrow is to the bull’s-eye.

Instructor Brent Davis says that, “students take archery for a variety of reasons. Some take it because they want to go bow hunting, some want to become competitive in the sport and others want to be summer camp counselors.”

Due to an injury at work, student Craig Danley has found archery to be rather therapeutic. “I ended up with bi lateral carpal tunnel syndrome and after surgery I lost a lot of my grip strength. I’m using muscle I haven’t used in quite awhile. I like being outdoors and I enjoy the sport.”

Student Sean Perry would like to someday become competitive. “Archery is something I started doing six-seven years ago, then I quit because there were no competitions near my house. The only places were up in the mountains.” He chose archery because he liked being outdoors and never was into team sports. “I’ve always enjoyed individual competition and I would like to one day be on an Olympic team.”

Some students have more pragmatic reasons for taking up the sport. “I like to shoot things!” student Eileen Del Rio says with a laugh. “My daughter took this class last semester and she said it was fun so I thought I would give it a try”.